Chicken in a Pot
Serves 6
2 tbsp olive oil
150g streaky bacon, cut into 1cm pieces
400g shallots (I used 2 medium onions)
2kg whole chicken
3 medium carrots cut into chunks
3 medium leeks, cut into chunks
250 ml wine (recipe calls for white, but I had red so used that instead)
500 ml chicken stock
400 ml tin tomatoes
1 tbsp fresh thyme (though of course I had to be different and use rosemary, as that's what we have)
3 bay leaves
200g mushrooms, sliced
1 tbsp flour
25g butter
- Preheat oven to 200C.
- Heat the olive oil in a casserole pot on the stove (ideally you need a deep pot with a lid). Fry the bacon and shallots/onions until they just start to colour. Tip into a plate, and reserve for later.
- Place the chicken in the pot, and brown on all side. Put to one side - on the plate with the bacon and onions would be a good place!
- Put the carrots and leeks in the casserole, and fry for 5 mins. Then return the chicken, bacon and onions/shallots to the pot.
- Pour the wine, chicken stock and chopped tomatoes over the chicken. Mix in the chopped herbs and bay leaves.
- Bring to the boil on the stove, before putting on well fitting lid and placing casserole in the oven for 30 minutes.
- Take casserole out of oven, baste chicken, and add the chopped mushrooms to the pot.
- Return to oven for another 30 minutes.
- After cooking time is finished, take the casserole out of the oven. Put the chicken on a serving plate, and return to the oven (now switched off) while you make the gravy.
- Strain veggies out of cooking juices. Put the veg into a warm serving plate. Reserve the liquid to make the gravy.
- Make a paste with the butter and flour. Put the casserole on a medium heat on the stove, stirring the butter and flour paste into the cooking juices
- Simmer for a couple of minutes to allow the gravy to thicken.
- Serve, ideally with mashed potatoes, and the veg/bacon mix that was cooked with the chicken.
This was so lovely. I served it with mashed kumura, and the veg mix as suggested. I love roast chicken, but usually do it very simply - i.e. shove in the oven bare and roast! The gravy was maybe a bit richer than the recipe intended, as I used red wine rather than white. But it was probably the tastiest gravy I've made with chicken. And not a gravy granule in site!!! Very annoyingly, MacMan was called into work early, and so didn't get to sample the dinner. However, this did mean I had plenty of chicken and veg left to use for stock! Not really what I had in mind though.
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